I leave Pryce's office with the taste of tea, and Pryce, a recent memory and muse for not the first time on Angel's Head of Research. Here I had thought that Angel's play for a spot on the Circle of the Black Thorn would remove the greatest perk of my job - namely, plotting the vampire's downfall. And baiting him in the meanwhile. But the entertainment value in my interactions with Wesley, in this one day alone, give me hope. Perhaps the days ahead, playing nice with Angel while the Senior Partners wish it, won't be so tedious.
Of course, they will be something else. Late evening will soon become early morning, but I'm as keyed up as if a new day had begun. Strategically speaking, today has not been an outright success. Mr. Gunn's refusal of my generous offer to remove him from the holding dimension... my necessary refusal to give Mr. MacDonald and Eve the deaths they were quite clearly asking for... Followed by that enlightening, if unsatisfyingly brief, exchange with Wesley...
If I didn't know better, I would say that it was frustration humming beneath my skin.
Whatever it is, I don't muse on it long. Seeing no reason not to, I continue with my original intention to stop by Angel's office and see if Angel is in.
I know that he is long before I reach my destination.
The sounds of destruction coming from Angel's office can be heard at the very end of the hall.
I pause at the door when I reach it, as the rhythmic thumping coming from behind ceases.
Knocking occurs to me. But I don't suppose Angel is concerned, at this moment, with such niceties, and I can more than do without them.
I open the door to see Angel shuffling papers atop his now battered-looking desk. The remains of several chairs lie around him.
I cross my arms and lean against the doorjam.
"A demon, hmm?" I ask, referring to the explanation I heard Angel barking into his phone the moment before I entered. "They can wreak havoc if not properly contained." As Angel should have been, long ago.
"Of course, containment is proving itself to be a weakness in this office this evening." I wonder if that guard contacted Angel about MacDonald's escape attempt, as I requested.
The door opens, and I ignore it, expecting it to be Harmony or some other Wolfram and Hart lackey - here far too quickly to be cleaning up the office - but silence stretches on and eventually I look up, not at all pleased by what I see.
Just who I never wanted to see again.
"Yeah well, you're still wandering around, aren't you?" I say with an annoyed tone. "Maybe the partners will 'contain' you since the only thing you ever seem do is stick your nose where it doesn't belong." I don't bother looking up from the papers I'm shuffling. Did he really have to be the one to be here right now?
"Are you finished snooping here? Because I was thinking you should get out." I say crisply, still not looking at him. He'll see the strain, he'll see the tension, he'll run to the partners and tell them I'm weak, I'm not the least bit ready to take on the Circle of the Black Thorn. He'll see through the act.
Making my face impassive, I do look back when I can still feel him in the room. "Was there something you wanted, Marcus?" I ask, pausing in my shuffling to look at him and sound like I'm talking to dirt on my shoe.
"Snooping. Hmm. Yes, I suppose you could call it that." I straighten, stepping further into the room. "Or you could call it doing my job," I finish, trying to maintain a conciliatory tone. Angel isn't looking, however - seemingly very preoccupied with his paper-shuffling - so I don't force a matching facial expression. "Which includes being your eyes and ears in this office whenever your attention is demanded elsewhere."
"Was there something you wanted, Marcus?"
It's a peculiar tendency of these humans (and vampires) to lose sight of formality while in a mood. Angel finally looks up, face blank but dark eyes scowling. I carefully ignore the equally scornful tone of his voice, and summon the easy smile I chose to forego a moment earlier, Oh, I have any number of answers to that question, but I settle safely on:
"Just checking in to see if you'd heard about Mr. MacDonald's new cellmate. It seems the tour you gave him earlier didn't include an inspection of the parking garage. So your old friend Eve stopped in to do the job herself."
I stow my hands in my pockets, keeping my eyes on Angel and his nervous movements.
"Or is that what prompted your sudden urge to redecorate?" Angel strikes me as the possessive type - just look at his reaction to my nearness to Pryce, before. Perhaps he doesn't like the idea of putting Eve in close confines with his "new toy".
I don't even bother fighting back the snort at Hamilton claiming to be doing his job. He was never just doing his job. There was always one more layer, one more thing his carefully tailored eye was looking for, one more thing to drive me crazy with. Some days, I had to wonder if that's really what the Senior Parnters wanted. Me. Crazy. Not Angelus, but someone they could more easily lock up and play puppet with. Oh, now there's something we don't need to revisit. I stilled the shudder and return my eyes to Hamilton's empty face.
His words obviously surprise me since I was a little...pre-occupied this afternoon, but I'm careful to keep that surprise to myself, since the big galoot obviously wants a rise out of me. Hell, when doesn't he want a rise out of me.
"And why is it that they're even in the same cell?" I ask, leaning back casually in my chair, arms crossed, and sounding far too sure of myself. My god, who the hell's idea was it to put that waif in with him. He shouldn't be around her. Only made him soft. Look how easily I got to him before. The old Lindsey I knew would have never have let me get away with that shit. Pushing the button on my intercom once again, I bark at Harmony to get someone to see about that, since Hamilton's obviously not going to be taking care of anything useful.
"Gee, Marcus, you know me, I like to keep up on the latest fashions, ride the latest models..." I glance at him pointedly and then around at the mess, "Trashed chic, it's all the rage, but I guess it just doesn't suit my taste," I raise my eyebrow just a fraction, inviting him to challenge my explanation.
Angel obviously has no idea what I'm talking about - not that that's entirely rare, but dealing with Security's failure to notify Angel (as per my orders) will be one way to release a little of the tension that's been building up today.
"They're in the same cell because I put them there," I say simply. "They make quite a pair. I thought, together, they'd be too busy with one another to plot another escape. At least for a time."
"Gee, Marcus, you know me, I like to keep up on the latest fashions, ride the latest models..."
I snort. “Oh, I’m sure you do,” I say pleasantly - Pryce’s “new toy” quip coming back to mind. Along with his question about my suits… and the result of that discussion. My smile becomes almost genuine at the thought. Angel can glower all he likes, but his little show of intimidation is just that - a show. Same as everything else he’s done to win the favor of the Circle of the Black Thorn. When it comes down to it, Angel just can’t shut the White Hat reflex off. He doesn’t seem to like the thought of Eve sharing space with MacDonald down in the detention level, and judging by his behavior earlier, he certainly doesn’t like the thought of my coming anywhere near his Head of Research.
I lick my lips unconsciously.
Yes, when it comes down to it… Angel can look at me with contempt now, but if he knew how Pryce was looking at me - in between the moment my lips left his, and the moment when his sanity (such as it is) returned… Well. That might steal just a bit of the hauteur from his expression.
”I guess it just doesn't suit my taste."
“Yes, well,” I grin. “As I was telling Mr. Wyndam-Pryce just a moment ago… sometimes there is no accounting for taste.”
This man, this thing, he's like some kind of slime beast. You can never quite get him out of your clothes or your hair no matter how many showers you take. It's almost disgusting the way he licks his lips...if it weren't making me think about Wes licking his lips- but that only makes me angry again, thinking that Hamilton might get to see Wes' far too tempting licking of the lips.
The greater good, Angel, remember the greater good.
I can't sacrifice Wes for the greater good!
Already done, idiot. Why do I have to be the one stuck in your dumb-
I grit my teeth in a last ditch effort to hold back a growl at Angelus and at Hamilton.
"No, there really isn't," I say smoothly. "And I really think you should have consulted yours when you decided Lindsey and Eve in the same cell was a good idea." I roll my eyes at him and go back to my papers. "Put Lindsey with anybody and he'll manipulate his way out of anything." I mutter under my breath, knowing I should go down and check on the cowboy and his mistress, but I've got to do something about Babe the Big Blue Ox here at the moment. "Anything else you might have neglected to report to me?" I ask, still ignoring him as I sift through more files and papers.
Well, aren't we the testy, supposedly-evil soulled vampire today? Angel grits his teeth, and I get the distinct impression that he's going to growl at me.
"I take it you haven't seen your old liaison lately," I say, thinking of Eve as she'd been in the parking garage earlier. Recklessly bold. And quite obviously shaken beneath her false bravado. Ah, human love. It can have such a such profound effect on people. Sort of like a terminal illness. Although, I'm sure Eve wouldn't appreciate the analogy at this moment. "I don't believe she'll be of much help to Mr. MacDonald, in whatever manipulations he may have up his sleeve."
"Anything else you might have neglected to report to me?"
I ignore the implied reprimand in that statement and take the question at face value. "Actually, I was just about to leave for the evening. Other than MacDonald's new roomie... everyone and everything seems to be in its place. Mr. Wyndam-Pryce tells me he even managed to tackle that translation you asked for."
He mentions Eve and her current lack of powers and I have to smirk. He really is something of an idiot, this one. Eve was bad enough, but Hamilton... Eve + Lindsey will always = trouble. "You really don't have any concept of the human spirit, do you, Marcus? You'd be surprised the things it can survive and get its way out of no matter how beaten down it is." Isn't that the truth. There are some things that can't be explained, and Wes' survival is probably one of them. Or anyone else on my crew really. We've gotten through some tough odds.
"And knowing Lindsey he will suck any strength out of her that she has, any way he can. You really don't have a clue, Marcus." I stop shuffling papers finally and lean back in my chair, the thought of being on top with him helping to soothe my worries. He's really not as smart as he thinks he is.
"Leaving already?" I give him a winning smile. "I didn't think you liaisons slept. Eve never seemed to have that need when she was around after hours," I say, letting any implications hang out there in the air.
"But, you know since you're here, and we were talking about clues...The Circle's been kind of quiet lately. They aren't doubting my interest are they? Because I'm ready to join any time they think they can handle it." I lean back and cross my arms as if daring him to doubt me.
"I didn't think you liaisons slept. Eve never seemed to have that need when she was around after hours."
"Yes. And we see where that got her," I say in simple response. I never actually said I was going to sleep after leaving the office, but it is fine by me that Angel assumes what he will. Even if that snide tone of his does grate more and more with each condescending remark.
Angel leans back in a pose of confidence and challenge that makes it hard not to smile despite my irritation. There is such a fine line between ambitious pluck and foolish abandon.
"The Circle likes to take its time in deciding upon issues of membership." I cross my arms in a subtle mimicry of Angel's. "This isn't the Boys and Girls Club for wayward white hats, you know - it takes a little more than some street cred and an attitude to get you in the front door."
Feathers totally unruffled, he just stands there smirking at me, Lindsey and Eve totally forgotten
Which makes me remember who exactly is supposed to be distracting this big galoot right now. I could probably spar with him a little while longer before ringing Harmony to get him out of here. Or letting him go home since he seems to be suggesting that's where he's heading. I never really thought of either he or Eve having a home...much less one on this plane of existence.
"So what is it they want? I've done the whole puppet on a string thing here. It's getting boring," I say giving him a fake yawn. I'm sure they have something nasty up their sleeves and I want to know what it is now before things get even worse around here. I want time to come up with a plan if it's something I'm just not going to do.
"We're in the belly of the beast now, Marcus, no sense in messing around with child's play. We're all adults here..." I raise a curious eyebrow, steepling my hands together.
Of course, they will be something else. Late evening will soon become early morning, but I'm as keyed up as if a new day had begun. Strategically speaking, today has not been an outright success. Mr. Gunn's refusal of my generous offer to remove him from the holding dimension... my necessary refusal to give Mr. MacDonald and Eve the deaths they were quite clearly asking for... Followed by that enlightening, if unsatisfyingly brief, exchange with Wesley...
If I didn't know better, I would say that it was frustration humming beneath my skin.
Whatever it is, I don't muse on it long. Seeing no reason not to, I continue with my original intention to stop by Angel's office and see if Angel is in.
I know that he is long before I reach my destination.
The sounds of destruction coming from Angel's office can be heard at the very end of the hall.
I pause at the door when I reach it, as the rhythmic thumping coming from behind ceases.
Knocking occurs to me. But I don't suppose Angel is concerned, at this moment, with such niceties, and I can more than do without them.
I open the door to see Angel shuffling papers atop his now battered-looking desk. The remains of several chairs lie around him.
I cross my arms and lean against the doorjam.
"A demon, hmm?" I ask, referring to the explanation I heard Angel barking into his phone the moment before I entered. "They can wreak havoc if not properly contained." As Angel should have been, long ago.
"Of course, containment is proving itself to be a weakness in this office this evening." I wonder if that guard contacted Angel about MacDonald's escape attempt, as I requested.
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Just who I never wanted to see again.
"Yeah well, you're still wandering around, aren't you?" I say with an annoyed tone. "Maybe the partners will 'contain' you since the only thing you ever seem do is stick your nose where it doesn't belong." I don't bother looking up from the papers I'm shuffling. Did he really have to be the one to be here right now?
"Are you finished snooping here? Because I was thinking you should get out." I say crisply, still not looking at him. He'll see the strain, he'll see the tension, he'll run to the partners and tell them I'm weak, I'm not the least bit ready to take on the Circle of the Black Thorn. He'll see through the act.
Making my face impassive, I do look back when I can still feel him in the room. "Was there something you wanted, Marcus?" I ask, pausing in my shuffling to look at him and sound like I'm talking to dirt on my shoe.
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"Was there something you wanted, Marcus?"
It's a peculiar tendency of these humans (and vampires) to lose sight of formality while in a mood. Angel finally looks up, face blank but dark eyes scowling. I carefully ignore the equally scornful tone of his voice, and summon the easy smile I chose to forego a moment earlier, Oh, I have any number of answers to that question, but I settle safely on:
"Just checking in to see if you'd heard about Mr. MacDonald's new cellmate. It seems the tour you gave him earlier didn't include an inspection of the parking garage. So your old friend Eve stopped in to do the job herself."
I stow my hands in my pockets, keeping my eyes on Angel and his nervous movements.
"Or is that what prompted your sudden urge to redecorate?" Angel strikes me as the possessive type - just look at his reaction to my nearness to Pryce, before. Perhaps he doesn't like the idea of putting Eve in close confines with his "new toy".
"
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His words obviously surprise me since I was a little...pre-occupied this afternoon, but I'm careful to keep that surprise to myself, since the big galoot obviously wants a rise out of me. Hell, when doesn't he want a rise out of me.
"And why is it that they're even in the same cell?" I ask, leaning back casually in my chair, arms crossed, and sounding far too sure of myself. My god, who the hell's idea was it to put that waif in with him. He shouldn't be around her. Only made him soft. Look how easily I got to him before. The old Lindsey I knew would have never have let me get away with that shit. Pushing the button on my intercom once again, I bark at Harmony to get someone to see about that, since Hamilton's obviously not going to be taking care of anything useful.
"Gee, Marcus, you know me, I like to keep up on the latest fashions, ride the latest models..." I glance at him pointedly and then around at the mess, "Trashed chic, it's all the rage, but I guess it just doesn't suit my taste," I raise my eyebrow just a fraction, inviting him to challenge my explanation.
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"They're in the same cell because I put them there," I say simply. "They make quite a pair. I thought, together, they'd be too busy with one another to plot another escape. At least for a time."
"Gee, Marcus, you know me, I like to keep up on the latest fashions, ride the latest models..."
I snort. “Oh, I’m sure you do,” I say pleasantly - Pryce’s “new toy” quip coming back to mind. Along with his question about my suits… and the result of that discussion. My smile becomes almost genuine at the thought. Angel can glower all he likes, but his little show of intimidation is just that - a show. Same as everything else he’s done to win the favor of the Circle of the Black Thorn. When it comes down to it, Angel just can’t shut the White Hat reflex off. He doesn’t seem to like the thought of Eve sharing space with MacDonald down in the detention level, and judging by his behavior earlier, he certainly doesn’t like the thought of my coming anywhere near his Head of Research.
I lick my lips unconsciously.
Yes, when it comes down to it… Angel can look at me with contempt now, but if he knew how Pryce was looking at me - in between the moment my lips left his, and the moment when his sanity (such as it is) returned… Well. That might steal just a bit of the hauteur from his expression.
”I guess it just doesn't suit my taste."
“Yes, well,” I grin. “As I was telling Mr. Wyndam-Pryce just a moment ago… sometimes there is no accounting for taste.”
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The greater good, Angel, remember the greater good.
I can't sacrifice Wes for the greater good!
Already done, idiot. Why do I have to be the one stuck in your dumb-
I grit my teeth in a last ditch effort to hold back a growl at Angelus and at Hamilton.
"No, there really isn't," I say smoothly. "And I really think you should have consulted yours when you decided Lindsey and Eve in the same cell was a good idea." I roll my eyes at him and go back to my papers. "Put Lindsey with anybody and he'll manipulate his way out of anything." I mutter under my breath, knowing I should go down and check on the cowboy and his mistress, but I've got to do something about Babe the Big Blue Ox here at the moment. "Anything else you might have neglected to report to me?" I ask, still ignoring him as I sift through more files and papers.
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"I take it you haven't seen your old liaison lately," I say, thinking of Eve as she'd been in the parking garage earlier. Recklessly bold. And quite obviously shaken beneath her false bravado. Ah, human love. It can have such a such profound effect on people. Sort of like a terminal illness. Although, I'm sure Eve wouldn't appreciate the analogy at this moment. "I don't believe she'll be of much help to Mr. MacDonald, in whatever manipulations he may have up his sleeve."
"Anything else you might have neglected to report to me?"
I ignore the implied reprimand in that statement and take the question at face value. "Actually, I was just about to leave for the evening. Other than MacDonald's new roomie... everyone and everything seems to be in its place. Mr. Wyndam-Pryce tells me he even managed to tackle that translation you asked for."
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"And knowing Lindsey he will suck any strength out of her that she has, any way he can. You really don't have a clue, Marcus." I stop shuffling papers finally and lean back in my chair, the thought of being on top with him helping to soothe my worries. He's really not as smart as he thinks he is.
"Leaving already?" I give him a winning smile. "I didn't think you liaisons slept. Eve never seemed to have that need when she was around after hours," I say, letting any implications hang out there in the air.
"But, you know since you're here, and we were talking about clues...The Circle's been kind of quiet lately. They aren't doubting my interest are they? Because I'm ready to join any time they think they can handle it." I lean back and cross my arms as if daring him to doubt me.
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"Yes. And we see where that got her," I say in simple response. I never actually said I was going to sleep after leaving the office, but it is fine by me that Angel assumes what he will. Even if that snide tone of his does grate more and more with each condescending remark.
Angel leans back in a pose of confidence and challenge that makes it hard not to smile despite my irritation. There is such a fine line between ambitious pluck and foolish abandon.
"The Circle likes to take its time in deciding upon issues of membership." I cross my arms in a subtle mimicry of Angel's. "This isn't the Boys and Girls Club for wayward white hats, you know - it takes a little more than some street cred and an attitude to get you in the front door."
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Which makes me remember who exactly is supposed to be distracting this big galoot right now. I could probably spar with him a little while longer before ringing Harmony to get him out of here. Or letting him go home since he seems to be suggesting that's where he's heading. I never really thought of either he or Eve having a home...much less one on this plane of existence.
"So what is it they want? I've done the whole puppet on a string thing here. It's getting boring," I say giving him a fake yawn. I'm sure they have something nasty up their sleeves and I want to know what it is now before things get even worse around here. I want time to come up with a plan if it's something I'm just not going to do.
"We're in the belly of the beast now, Marcus, no sense in messing around with child's play. We're all adults here..." I raise a curious eyebrow, steepling my hands together.
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